Small Businesses are Slacking in Local & Mobile Marketing.

By Will Mallett | February 6, 2013

Single Platform, a division of Constant Contact (the popular email marketing service), recently released the results of a survey of small and medium sized businesses. It gives some interesting insights into how SMBs are optimizing local search and mobile marketing, and how they feel those efforts will fit into their larger business plans down the road. The results can be summed up thusly:

SMBs believe that local and mobile are increasingly vital components of an effective marketing plan, yet the majority are falling short of what they could be doing in those areas.

The majority of independent home performance and home energy businesses fit into the category of SMBs, and we believe that companies in our category can learn some important lessons from this survey. You can download the full report from Single Platform, but here are our takeaways for home performance businesses like yours:

Key Points from the Survey:

On the importance of SEO, mobile and local search:

2/3 of consumers use local search weekly

70% of mobile searches lead to action within 1 hour

85% of small businesses believe a strong presence on Google and other search engines and directories is important

78% of small businesses believe new customers find them through search engines

And yet...

Only 23% of small businesses understand how listings drive business

Only 49% of small businesses have ever updated their online listings

50% of small businesses have seen inaccurate info about their business online

70% of small businesses say they don't have time to update all of their online listings

Only 25% of small businesses know how to create a mobile friendly website

Takeaways for Your Business:

Notice a disconnect in the numbers above? Exactly: online marketing is increasingly important, and yet the businesses who stand to gain the most are either too busy, or don't understand enough about how to manage their online presence, to get the job done well. So...

You should get your listings in order and make sure everything is accurate

Keep in mind that there's a good chance your competitors aren't doing these things, but they probably will. If you jump on it now, you'll be a step ahead when it counts the most.

What has your experience with SEO, local search and mobile marketing been? Too much to do? Not enough time to do it? Not sure where you should focus your efforts? Or have your efforts been successful? We'd love to hear about it. And as always, feel free to check out our free white paper on web marketing for home peformance professionals if you'd like to learn more about how to market your business online.